Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Death of a Champion

Above, you will see my old, faithful friend, Barney the Purple Saturn. Barney and I have been through a lot...numerous road trips, several fender benders, a speeding ticket, four jobs, two different college commutes, and more trips through the McDonald's drive thru than I care to count. However, like all good things, our time together must come to an end, several months before I wanted it to.

When you are working part-time for not-so-much money and attending nursing school, time is divided into two realms...before graduation and after graduation. My sincere hope for Barney was that he would continue to serve me well until the latter of the two. At that time, I planned to thank Barney for his nine years of faithful service and retire him. My next pick for a car? A Subaru Forester, perfect for my new life in the woods.

Unfortunately, I went to back up in the midst of a K-turn on Sunday, and Barney didn't have it in him anymore. It looks like the transmission is on its way out. I have lost the reverse gear and have no doubt that the others would quickly follow. It would certainly be more than he is worth, monetarily, to fix him up and get him running again. Therefore, it's time to say goodbye.

On Saturday, Bill, my dad, and I will be heading to the Subaru dealer to put something together. My hope is to have a new car by Monday so that my mom, Bill, and my friend Paula don't have to drive me around anymore. Until then, I am mostly homebound and catching up on my knitting.